Chapter 7: Survival Training

Saturday, September 7th, unknown time

We had been traveling for about an hour before stopping, taking slow, methodical paths of Chloe’s choosing meant primarily for stealth and not speed. Chloe’s halt was so sudden that I nearly ran into her. Only after she’d paused did I notice her hand was lifted in the universal sign that meant stop. She crouched, and I followed suit, scooting to peer over some shrubbery to see if I could spot what killed our march.

I glanced at her, but she seemed unaware. I looked back in the direction she was staring in, and as much as I strained my eyes, I couldn’t see anything except for a couple of birds chasing each other around in a nearby tree.

“I hear something,” Chloe said in a whisper so soft that it took me a moment to work out what she had actually said.

Straining my ears, I couldn’t hear anything except the collective sounds of water dripping off leaves, piles of needles, and earth. We’d been subjected to a light drizzle since landing in this god-forsaken forest, and after a couple of hours, our clothes were thoroughly soaked, and the cold was seriously starting to work an uncomfortable chill deep into my bones. What’s worse, it would get dark in a few hours, and we had no way of knowing where the cabin was or when people would start looking for us.

Undoubtedly, Erin would start worrying when we didn’t arrive back at Astrid’s by tomorrow evening, but there was a lot of time between now and then. Anything could happen ... especially when people were literally hunting you.

“I don’t hear anything,” I said.

Chloe put a finger to her lips and then backed away. I followed her behind a large evergreen, where she crouched low and gave another quick glance around before saying, “The chopper’s close. I’m going to sweep the perimeter to make sure there’s no one waiting for us. I need you to wait here.”

I nodded, hardly daring to argue with the woman who had obviously done this before.

“You see anyone other than me, you shoot,” Chloe said, glancing at the gun I was holding.

“What about Astrid?” I said. “Or the pilot.”

“I doubt they’re going to run away from me,” Chloe said. Something in her voice made me suspect that she doubted they would be in any condition to run at all.

Nodding, I leaned back against the tree trunk, checked the safety on the pistol, and then watched as Chloe stood up. She left the few possessions she carried at my feet, slung the rifle over her shoulder, and slid the knife into her belt. I gave her a once-over as she examined the path ahead. Her dirty blonde hair fell just past her shoulders when it was loose, but on the way back to the helicopter, she’d found something to tie it back. It was a shade darker due to all the rain, and strands that had escaped the ponytail were plastered to her face where they hadn’t already been tucked behind her ears.

Her thin cotton sleeveless shirt had soaked all the way through by the time I found her with the three mercenaries. It clung to her abdomen and gave a hint of toned abs, tight obliques, and a lightly muscled back, which were visible through the thin material. Her breasts were obscured by the black bra she wore under it. After killing her captors, she’d taken the shirt off the man whose neck she snapped and threw it on, obscuring her figure a little more. It was unfortunate for me but less distracting, which was probably good. There was no helping her pants, though; the tight denim she chose was soaked and clung so well that I could see every curve of her well-toned thighs and ass.

Okay, so she was still distracting.

I saw Chloe’s head move and tore my gaze off her ass to meet her brown eyes as she stared back at me, and I swear I couldn’t tell if she was annoyed that I’d been checking her out or if she was amused. She made Helen look like a bad liar.

“I’ll be back soon,” Chloe said. “No matter what you hear, unless I call for you, don’t move.”

I nodded. “Got it.”

She disappeared without another word.

I leaned my head back against the tree and took a moment to close my eyes, and that’s the moment it hit me how tired I was. I hadn’t slept as much as I should have last night, thanks to Natashya’s night terrors, and I’d been wired the entire day. First, it was dealing with the strange feelings from Emily when we were in her bed, but that was quickly replaced by concern for Bobbi after spending the night with Astrid. I’d stormed into her steam room like a man on a mission and had left more frustrated and horny than satisfied with our encounter. A quickie with Erin afterward had settled me down, but right after that, we had lunch before flying out here. Of course, the flight had taken a turn for the worst, and I’d been fighting for my life since being tossed out of a helicopter.

Standing against the tree, soaking wet and slightly shivering, exhausted me.

Chloe had filled me in on what happened after she’d shoved me out the door. She had strapped on a parachute first and then turned to see if Astrid needed any help, but the heiress waved her off as she was already scrambling to get hers on. Without hesitating, Chloe jumped out of the chopper but couldn’t find me after opening her chute. She didn’t get a chance to see Astrid or the pilot deploy their parachutes ... if they even had a chance to jump from the helicopter at all. I’d hoped that Chloe would have her cell phone on her, but unfortunately, her captors had smashed hers until it was unusable. I hadn’t seen mine since I’d been pushed out of the helicopter and was hoping against hope that it was still there.

When I questioned her about why she’d left Astrid behind, my bodyguard felt justified because she was there to protect me, and the best way to do that was by staying alive. I was her priority. Everything else was a distant second. Part of me felt flattered by her words, while another part felt uneasy. In a sense, I’d always known what it meant to have someone like Chloe around. She’d rescued me from the warehouse and, in theory, was willing to take a bullet for me, but to hear her speak so plainly about how she would be willing to sacrifice others for my sake ... that weighed heavily on me.

When I first hired her, I thought her presence would be an annoying disturbance and invasion of my privacy. Since then, she showed that she could keep secrets and watch things occur without giving me any idea of what she thought about them. I was sure she had opinions, but she kept them to herself, giving the illusion of being non-judgemental. I recalled talking to her about Bobbi for the first time around the pool. I felt myself smile as I remembered drinking that scotch.

It felt so long ago...

So many things had occurred since then: the kidnapping, the board meeting, watching her throw my brother around in the coffee shop, raiding my grandfather’s house ... that night with Ashlee in Vegas and almost talking about it after I won the vote.

God ... we really had been through so much together.

My eyes flew open as I heard something to my left and whipped the gun toward it, ready to fire at the first sign of danger.

Nothing.

I swiped at my eyes and listened intently for something ... anything.

There was nothing but the sound of falling rain. I might have found it peaceful were it not for the danger. Crazy how little my money mattered right now.

No ... that wasn’t true. I had Chloe—someone I wouldn’t have had without my inheritance. Of course, I wouldn’t have been here in the first place, either.

I spent nearly fifteen minutes contemplating the philosophical implications of becoming wealthy, jumping at every random sound, and shivering—the shivering was getting more noticeable. I missed hiking through the forest—at least that helped occupy my mind.

Two gunshots went off, sounding relatively close to where I was standing and made me drop to a crouch as I looked around, all the weariness leaving my body in one fell swoop. More birds than I’d realized were around took flight, flying away from the abrupt blasts. Once it quieted down and no one came charging around the tree to kill me, I slowly worked my way around the edge, keeping low.

Nothing. Not even the sound of footsteps or the rustling of anyone moving through trees. It was just as quiet as it had been a few minutes ago ... quieter without the birds, actually.

It took everything in me to stay where I was. I didn’t know if Chloe was okay or if she’d just been gunned down by some of Hiro’s goons. Were they going to retrace her steps and find me? Did I really care if they did if Chloe was dead? Sure. I had a lot to live for and a lot of people waiting for me back home, but the thought of Chloe dying out here and never getting to see her alive. She was terse, stoic, and not always the most fun person to be around, but in considering the possibility I could lose her, I felt a tightening in my chest.

“Fuck,” I whispered and slipped behind the tree again. I’d give her another ten minutes, then I was going to have to decide what else to do.

I didn’t have to wait ten minutes.

I heard noisy rustling through the trees, and my heart immediately lept into my throat. Remembering how quietly Chloe had walked through the woods, I was sure that wasn’t her. The fucking goons were tracking me, and it was only a matter of time before they found me. I could run for it, but there was a good chance they would be able to catch up to me or possibly get a clear shot.

And what if it was Astrid ... or what’s-his-face—her guard?

Leaning to the side, I peered around the side of the tree trunk, trying to get a visual while exposing myself as little as possible and saw Chloe.

She was walking carelessly through the woods toward me at a languid pace, skirting a small tree and coming into full view just a few feet away.

“It’s me,” she called, stopping short of the tree. “We’re good now.”

“What was that?” I asked as I came around the evergreen, sighing relief at hearing the good news. “The gunshots.”

“Three of Tanaka’s men were waiting for us at the helicopter,” Chloe said. “I’m guessing since they didn’t hear back from the ones who caught me, they decided we would try to find it next.”

“They’re dead?” I asked as I fell in beside Chloe. She turned, and we headed back in the direction she came.

“Yep,” Chloe said, offering me no more information.

“And you found the chopper?”

“Yep,” Chloe said again.

“What about Astrid?” I asked.

“Didn’t get a good look, but I think there’s someone in the wreckage,” Chloe said. “I’m gonna need your help checking.”

Chloe quickly led me back the way she’d come until we reached a small clearing. Well, it wasn’t a clearing, exactly. It had been a regular patch of forest with several younger trees flattened and mowed down by the remnants of the helicopter we had ridden in on our way out here.

“Fuck,” I breathed as we approached the wreckage. There was a large burn spot on the ground where it looked like some kind of fire had started, but it looked like it hadn’t lasted long. I glanced up, squinting into the drizzle still coming down on us.

“Yeah,” Chloe said, slinging her rifle over her shoulder so the strap ran across her chest, creating a valley between her breasts. “Come on. Let’s see what we can find.”

My bodyguard led the way to the wreckage with the lack of caution she’d shown up till now. She must have been pretty sure that there was no one else to worry about because, up until this moment, she’d barely made a sound since we took out the three thugs holding her hostage. I followed along, having difficulty managing the same carefree steps, considering how we’d spent the last couple of hours sneaking across the forest at a snail’s pace.

Chloe made a circuit around the helicopter, and I went in the opposite direction. It was in complete shambles. The front had smashed into the ground and caved in, leaving shards of broken glass everywhere as it rested at an angle due to the mangled sleds that were partially buried in the ground. A stump with blackened, ragged edges was all that remained of the tail, and one of the rotor blades was missing while the rest were bent to hell. I could still smell the rancid odor of burnt electronics.

As I made my way around it, I tried to peer inside the cockpit, but the windshield was almost completely buried. While the pilot’s door was slightly ajar, it looked severely mangled, and the window was so webbed with cracks that it was impossible to see anything. I noticed that both sliding doors were completely missing and approached the pilot’s side—opposite the one I’d been pushed out of. I reached out and placed my hand gingerly on the side of the helicopter and gave it a little shove, making sure the thing wouldn’t fall over on me at the slightest breeze. It didn’t budge. Another couple of experimental shoves promised that it wasn’t going anywhere without some serious outside intervention, so I peered inside.

“Find anything?” Chloe said, appearing from around the other side of the helicopter. I jumped a little, half-expecting her to tell me it was too dangerous. She didn’t. I guess Chloe thought I was smart enough to ensure a wrecked helicopter was stable before approaching it. Something about that made me feel better about our dynamic. Until this moment, I felt like a damsel in distress that needed watching over. Even though she claimed that I saved her life, it was a little emasculating. Knowing that she wasn’t treating me like a little kid every step of the way did quite a bit to soothe the bruised ego I was trying to ignore.

“Not yet,” I said as I turned back toward the interior of the wreckage. Peering into the darkness, I could tell the seats had been completely demolished. Two of them had been torn off the floor and had crashed into the seat nearest the pilot’s partition, leaving most of the passenger space relatively bare. I could feel my lips compress in disappointment; initially, I’d hoped to find Astrid here, but it was hard to imagine her surviving something like this.

Rustling to my left caught my attention, and I pulled my head out of the wreckage to see Chloe slowly working the pilot’s door open.

I moved to help her. Between the two of us, we were able to work the door open just enough to squeeze a body in, and Chloe ducked her head and shoulders through the gap before I could take the initiative.

“Is there anyone in there?” I asked.

“Yeah,” Chloe responded a moment later as she pulled her head out. She looked grim. “If you want to hold onto whatever you ate, I’d stay out.”

Considering that I wasn’t sure when I’d get my next meal, I followed her advice and stayed back. “Fuck. I didn’t even know his name.” If I had to take a guess, it was probably John. Most of my security agents had some variation of that name.

“Robert,” Chloe said, moving to the passenger section of the helicopter and peering in. She tested the side of the wreckage herself. “We were going to spend the night in a cabin with the guy. I did my homework.”

“Jesus,” I said, giving Robert’s resting place a final glance before following Chloe back to the passenger’s section. She was already partially inside, carefully choosing her footing as she climbed deeper into the wreckage. “What are you doing?” I asked.

“Looking for the other chute,” Chloe said. “It has some rations and other supplies that could be useful while we wait it out. I’m not certain when rescue will come, so we need to gather and conserve.”

She began working her way deeper into the interior, continuing, “There were four of us, and any bodyguard with piloting experience would have packed four parachutes. Maybe more for redundancy.”

“Do you need help?” I asked. Chloe had one foot on some of the mangled seating and another on the sharp incline of the helicopter’s flooring. It was hard to tell what she was hanging onto because her sculpted ass in those wet jeans was doing a damn good job of keeping my attention.

“Too much weight could make this unstable. Rather, you stay where you are and watch for the chopper to shift,” Chloe said.

I couldn’t argue with that logic, so I took a few steps back and watched the wreckage, which stayed completely stable over the next few minutes as I heard Chloe rooting around inside. After nearly ten minutes of waiting, she said, “Here we go.”

A pack similar to the one I had strapped on moments before falling out of the plane dropped into view, hitting the ground and rolling over on its side. A second one fell beside its twin. Then, two more bags unlike the parachutes. One was a bulging canvas pack, while the other was my brown leather overnight bag.

“Damn!” I called out as I approached them and crouched beside my bag. “Nice. You didn’t happen to see my phone in there, did you?”

Chloe peered down at me and looked around, “Nope. We can try looking under the seats, but it’s a mess.”

“Yeah,” I said disappointedly. “I hope I didn’t drop it on my way down.” I glanced at the twin packs with harnesses attached. “Two parachutes? Do you think there was a redundancy, or do you think Astrid fell out?”